Honey Amber - 11-25-2012

Today, we bottled the beer I'm probably most excited about.  I took an Amber recipe, and added oak chips that had been soaking in Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon for two months.  As I was bottling, I noticed a very slight "oaky bourbon" scent to it, which is exactly what I was shooting for as far as flavor goes.  I got 10 of the 22oz bottles and 28 of the 12 oz bottles.  It will be in the bottle in my garage for about another two weeks, and then it's time for a taste.

Over the weekend, my daughter and I opened up our Bery Blonde, which was a blonde recipe with strawberries and raspberries added to it.  My first taste of this was a couple of weeks ago, and it was OK.  However, it appears that as it ages in the bottle, the flavor gets better.  It still has the consistency of cider, but the flavor gets better with age.

Also, the feedback on the Novemberfest (actually Oktoberfest that didn't finish by the end of October) has been excellent.  It had a spice pack with some nutmeg, cinnamon, and orange peels in it.  It has a very bold and strong flavor, so you can't drink a lot of it.  However, it's very smooth.  I was pleased the way that the spices and the hops came together to form a good flavor.

Beer Stock as of 11-23-2012

I did a complete inventory of all of my beer stock this morning while getting it organized.  In the table below, you will see all of the different recipes we have made.  This does not include the Amber with Oak Chips soaked in Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon or the Seasonal Ale, which are currently fermenting (5 gallons each).

Right now, we have 2,104 ounces of beer in our available stock.  If you figure that we average 6 22 ounce bottles and 35 12 ounce bottles per batch, we have made 552 ounces of beer per batch.  At 15 batches (75 gallons before fermentation), we have made 8280 ounces of beer.  Given that I only have 2104 ounces of beer left, that means I've given (not sold) 6176 ounces of beer to family, friends, and co-workers.

Holiday Ale Bottling - 11/18/2012

Today, I bottled the Holiday Ale with a friend.  It has a combination of orange, cinnamon, and nutmeg flavors.  The smell was fantastic.  If the smell is any indicator, the taste of this batch of beer should be fantastic.

Brewing Activities on 10-28-2012

I'm late posting this entry that updates my brewing activities from last weekend.  I took an Amber Ale recipe, and then added oak chips that have been soaking in Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon for the last two months during the fermentation process.  The yeast has been very, very active the entire week, and I'm anxious to see the results of this effort.  The taste should be fantastic as I did not add any bourbon to it.  I just added the oak chips.  So the oak bourbon flavor should not be very overwhelming.

Here is the recipe.  I got the kit online from Northern Brewer.

Grains

.5 pounds of Victory Malt
.5 pounds of Briess Caramel 60

Malt

1 pound Pilsen dry malt extract
6 pounds Munich malt syrup - added at the last 15 minutes of the boil

Hops

1 oz German Perle
1 oz Hersbrucker - added at the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Yeast - Safale US-05 Ale Yeast

Rather than just add the dry yeast to the wort, I decided to start it with a cup of warm water and some honey (since I was using Honey Bourbon).  I feel this gave the yeast a huge kickstart to the fermentation process, and should enhance the flavor.